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3 Up, 3 Down: My Hero Academia Season 2

I’ve just been preparing to do what I promised to do, and that was more posts reacting to anime I’ve recently watched. I can’t be ranting and raving all the time or else they’ll lose the luster. And trust me when I say I have some especially good ones in the works. :3

So, without further ado, let’s get on with the first of many 3 Up, 3 Down posts in the coming future! My topic today: the second season of My Hero Academia!!

Man! Was this show ever a breath of fresh air in the shonen genre. I know a lot of people praised One Punch Man for its ability to subvert shonen battle anime and what not, but My Hero Academia is miles ahead of in my opinion. While not a deconstruction per se, it definitely isn’t holding on to those old tropes we’ve become accustomed too. So, like everyone else, I was super hyped to dive right back when the 2nd season started. Did it start off like a ball of fire as before? Ehhhh……Let’s start with the “Good”, shall we?

The Good

First off, it was nice to not have some sort of time skip shenanigans between the first season and this one. Glad to see we won’t have that many episodes dedicated to some off-screen training sessions or storylines that they could’ve just shown us in the first place. MHA has shown itself to be an anime that gets down to business and lets the story it’s trying to tell flow fluidly without being hampered too much by filler. And given how much filler shonen anime is guilty of having, it is a welcomed change of pace to the genre.

Once again I have to lavish the show with ample amounts of praise for its production values. I’ve only watched the first 3 episodes but there wasn’t an ounce of laziness as far as the animation or sound quality is concerned. The show was drop dead gorgeous before and it is even more beautiful this time around.

Another good part about the first 3 episodes would the growth of our protagonist. Midoriya isn’t the shy introvert who hesitates or whimper whenever things get a little hot under the collar anymore. Not saying he’s as bombastic as All Might, but it’s great to see he’s manned up a bit and actually takes action without waiting for others to do it first. While he still has ways to go before he can fully use his Quirk naturally, I’m glad to see the creators are showing off his intelligence and other attributes for time being. It will make the moment when he finally can control ” One For All” that much more enjoyable.

A minor spoiler, but I loved the way the 3rd episode ended. It setup a calvary style battle between various teams and the MC of the tourney basically put a bounty on Midoriya’s head. His expression was priceless!!! XD Can’t wait for that!!

But….not everything about the first 3 eps were all rainbows and sunshine.

The Bad

Ok, so maybe MHA hasn’t shed all of the typical shonen battle anime tropes. I’m all for long, drawn out season showcasing a lot of well choreographed fights and what not. But….a tournament arc? Really?! That is about as shonen as shonen gets! Don’t get me wrong. A tourney arc, if down right like in Yu Yu Hakusho, can be a great way to tell a story while putting on awesome battles. I just thought that this show would be above that sort of thing even if our chars are in a school setting. So far it isn’t a stereotypical tournament, but a lot can change in the next coming episodes.

Hearkening back to One Punch Man for a moment, I sort of wish MHA did have a more business like approach to the whole world being full of heroes thing rather than them being in school, but that’s just a minor nitpick.

Another small gripe I have is that while the supporting cast is color and wacky, there isn’t much to them. I mean, there’s Katsuki who’s been Midoriya’s rival since they were in Pull-Ups but we already know his story. Everyone else just seems to be filling roles. Outside of their Quirks, there isn’t any stand out char that I like more that the main char. Still early on, but I hope this trend doesn’t continue. Would be nice to hear about other characters.

The Ugly

It’s been a while since I’ve railed on a show’s choice of music, but maaaannnn….THE OPENING/ENDING THEMES SUCK!!! I have heard music this generic and boring in a long time. I’m not saying the 1st season’s opening/ending themes blew me away, but at least I wasn’t as inclined to skip them as much as I am this time around. Don’t waste time listening to them, folks. Skip on past them.

Then…there’s this chick:

For all the gripes I had with Mt. Girl or whatever her name was, at least she wasn’t featured as much. But this chick….why the heck is as dominatrix a teacher at a school?! And why is she dressed like that while hosting a tournament!? The majority of the other adult heroes are in much more formal attire! Did they just want to have something to keep the otakus interested in the show’s goings on? Bad form, MHA. Bad form!!

UGGGHHHHH!!!!

You can probably guess what my answer will be by now, but I would recommend watching My Hero Academia’s second season?

Well said, Ushio-chan!

If you were a fan of the first season like me, there’s nothing thus far to be disappointed in. It’s a continuation of a great show. What more is to be expected? My only hope is that the quality continues to be this good.

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9 thoughts on “3 Up, 3 Down: My Hero Academia Season 2”

Agree with you on the opening theme. I was incredibly disappointed with that when the first episode of this season started and unlike Attack on Titan, it didn’t get any better after listening to it again. It is just boring and generic. I was also kind of diappointed they went with a tournament arc, though despite my overall disdain for that sort of story, My Hero Academia is doing a good job of keeping the tournament fairly fun and interesting so it going fairly well. Overall, this has been a pretty good follow up t othe first season. I’m liking the character growth and that some of the other students in the class are finally stepping up and trying to take the top spot and I’m enjoying the fact that All Might has put a bit more pressure on Midoriya in the form of a real world threat so it isn’t just a school tournament anymore.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on it.

You know I love a good NEETaku rant. I’ve not seen MHA but I was planning to bing watch it to catch up. From what I read of your review, it seems like the good significantly outweighs the bad. Terrible OP and ED make life sad, but not a deal breaker.